


A quartermaster's heart

by salytierra



Series: Ahoy, Blue Spirit hearties! [3]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Adventure & Romance, Badass Suki (Avatar), Badass Zuko (Avatar), F/M, First Love, Fluff, M/M, Multi, Pirates, Suki is just always horny which is very valid, Suki-centric, good communication, have you seen her boyfriend and their love interest?, pre-zukki, relationship analysis, who wouldn't be?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-13
Updated: 2020-10-13
Packaged: 2021-03-08 01:07:23
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,143
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26977090
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/salytierra/pseuds/salytierra
Summary: Suki fell in love twice, and she’s pretty sure she’s on her way to the third time.This is the story of her life, her love, her lust and the surest way to win her heart.
Relationships: Sokka/Suki/Zuko (Avatar), Suki/Zuko (Avatar)
Series: Ahoy, Blue Spirit hearties! [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1929136
Comments: 13
Kudos: 148





	A quartermaster's heart

**Author's Note:**

  * For [SmileHoney](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SmileHoney/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Heave Ho: sea rats and future kings!](https://archiveofourown.org/works/26530291) by [salytierra](https://archiveofourown.org/users/salytierra/pseuds/salytierra). 



> **@Heave Ho readers:** this should be read ideally between the chapters 7 & 9 of the main story :D  
>  **@Everybody else:** this is a complimentary POV and I'm afraid it makes little sense without reading the main story in this series :3
> 
> Suki's POV as promised, featuring more details on her history with Zuko, their time on Kyoshi Island, and after it~

Suki fell in love twice, and she’s pretty sure she’s on her way to the third time. 

She doesn’t remember how her first time happened. It was a gradual process. She started off as just a girl with an entire village to look after her yet, essentially, nobody. She started training to become a warrior when she was eight because she was told to, and she wondered sometimes what people that didn’t live on the island and that weren’t little girls did with their life. 

Then, when she was twelve, she met a boy. A damaged little thing that, just like her, had nothing to his name and no parents to look after him. He had the prettiest honey eyes she’s ever seen and a look of perpetual confusion on his face. He needed a roof, and somebody to take care of him, somebody to teach him how to live on the island and to support him emotionally. 

Suki had inherited an empty house, too big for her alone, so she volunteered to take him in. In exchange she gained a friend. Somebody who was fully hers for the first time in her life, who looked at her like she was his whole world and told her stories of lands far away, taught her tricks she never learned at her dojo, and brought her warmth on cold days. He endured her putting face paint on him and smuggling him to practice, he blushed and smiled like he was afraid he would be punished for it. He was angry and he was broken, Suki discovered she was good at assembling puzzles and gluing the pieces back together. 

They went everywhere hand in hand, and Suki wondered why the adults kept giggling at them. 

Together, they grew up and built a life intertwined and intermingled in one another. Together, they healed and found their identities outside of what the community or their upbringing assigned them. They were always very open with each other, warm and affectionate, never shying away from a friendly touch because it brought them a shared joy. Two kids that grew up starving for embraces and finally had somebody to hold onto. 

She didn’t realize she loved him until they were attending a wedding and she could relate to the wovs the couple spoke to each other. They turned to look at one another, realization coloring both their faces, and never said it out loud, but kissed for the first time under a table at the wedding reception. 

  
  


The second time she fell in love it was raw, sudden, and intense like an explosion. She knows exactly the moment it happened because it knocked the breath out of her lungs and made her body ache with need. And it was with a _man._ A man that she was seeing for the first time. He was strong, determined and commanding, a born leader, surrounded by a dark aura of perpetual anger boiling under the surface. His voice rose over the crashing waves, deep and hoarse like sandpaper in honey, and his predatory golden eyes flashed with embering fire. 

Suki stood on the deck of a stolen ship — while her entire world was crumbling around her, fleeing for her life — and for the first time ever saw a different side of the person that she’d thought she knew so well. 

She’s always been aware, but never actually acknowledged, that he was born to be a King. 

And right then, looking up at Zuko shouting orders and commanding a ship from his position at the helm, Suki fell in love again. However, this time it wasn’t laced with the warmth of companionship but with the raging fire of lust. 

They stumbled through intimacy half-blind at first, making up for the lack of theoretical and practical knowledge with enthusiasm and curiosity. One time they even got quite a scare, before recruiting Teo, who brewed her a concoction that she had to drink every day, lest she had a heart attack after missing her period again. But the newfound passion between them kept growing, fueled by their youth, pent-up stress of daily life, and codependent devotion.

One day, after going to an undercover market to sell some goods, Zuko came back with a mischievous grin and a book. A guide to things they’ve never thought of before but that felt so good and were so much fun! They dared each other to try every single one on these tricks to rate them. It’s because of it that they brought a third person to their bed for the first time. The decision had been simple. Zuko liked boys a lot (being in a loving relationship didn’t stop his eyes from appreciating beauty any less than it stopped hers), Suki didn’t particularly care for girls, even if she knew she wouldn't mind a taste. They met a handsome man on one of their trips inland, and invited him to their tent. That happened again, several times with different people, and it was always great fun, but it never meant anything come morning. 

But here’s the heart of the matter: even after years, it’s still hard for suki to reconcile that broken, frightened boy that she holds so much softness and caring affection for — that she’d gifted with her heart for the first time and had talked to about marriage, under a table at somebody else’s wedding — with her tenacious and hardened pirate captain, prone to outbursts of rage, reckless plans, and fucking her into the mattress until her knees give out. 

She loves them both and she rationally knows that they are the same person, she can see them every day in the same face. But in her heart, she still feels like each holds a different piece of it, loves them differently yet with the same intensity. 

These random people never meant anything to her, true, but somewhere deep inside she knows that she still has some space in her heart for another romance, that falling in love again without compromising her feelings for her boy (and her man) is not outside of the realm of possibility. 

“Not a bad idea.” Zuko told her when they’d discussed it. “Don’t fight it if it comes, I worry about your heart, if something ever happens to me. We live dangerous lives.” 

“This goes both ways,” she’d leaned in to kiss his latest set of bandages “but I don’t think I will ever be able to love someone who doesn’t see you the way I do.” 

  
  


Except that they’ve been at sea for three long years now, and there’s this gorgeous new guy on their crew that has the most earnest blue eyes that she’s ever seen; burning with unwavering determination, intelligence and curiosity. 

He smells of ancient ice, looks at Zuko with smitten wonder, and makes her laugh. A lot. 

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you liked this little insight! Please proceed to chapter 9 ♥


End file.
